Five Lessons I’ve Learned in My First Year
By Amanda Urban
1.
Grad
School is a Blast and Half
Graduate school is a scary notion. We
all wonder: How on Earth am I going to
balance grad school, working, and my personal life? While it seems many of
us are still struggling to find that balance, I can at least say that our
program makes the challenge easier because classes are a blast and a half. I legitimately look forward to going to classes
every week because I know that we’ll be doing something engaging, purposeful,
and fun. In most classes, our professors ask us to get on our feet and the
moment we begin our warm-up activity, the stresses of the rest of the world
melt away—we’re here in class together to learn how to be better teachers, and
to have fun while we do it.
The moment I fell in love with our
program was when Sobha told our Artistic Lab class that the purpose of the
course was “to play and have fun” for an hour every week. For that hour, I
engaged in an artistry that my classmates were passionate about: we learned how
to juggle, how to engage in stage combat, how to parody music, how to dance,
sing, and play with one another. I appreciated that the program encouraged us
to set aside time in our own busy lives to practice what we preach—to make time
for the arts.
Moreover, my other classes kept me
smiling throughout. In Drama in
Education, we collaborated to create a moving dragon using all of our bodies
and traveled to imagined places using Guided Imagery. In my Teaching Literacy
Through Drama class, we happily wrote and performed plays for each other. In my
Conflict Resolution Through Drama class, we enthusiastically created flash
forum pieces that sometimes made us laugh, but always made us want to make a
difference. My classes invigorate and empower me every week. I doubt anyone
else can say that about their grad school experience.
I’ve learned that this program has
so many wonderful opportunities and I should take every opportunity to challenge myself as a student, artist,
and teacher. On a small scale, I learned that I should take every chance to
volunteer in class. How will I learn to facilitate Rainbow of Desire if I’ve
never participated in it? How will I learn to make my students excited about a
Dance Party warm-up if I don’t dance my heart out at the beginning of my class?
On a larger scale, the program
offers weekend elective classes once a semester that I chose to participate in.
In the spring semester, I took a Baby Theatre course and learned about the art
of engaging 0-5 year olds in drama. Although I’m primarily interested in
teaching adolescents, I was glad I took the opportunity to learn about early
childhood development and to see the fascinating effects theatre can have on
the very young.
Additionally, I volunteered at the
Harlem Children’s Theatre Festival in the spring. I helped at the dress-up
booth and enjoyed imagining with the children who would pretend to be Queen of
the Forest when donning a crown, and a train conductor in the next moment
because of a simple costume change. I loved watching the smiling children play
with puppets, create crafts, and participate in a sing-along. Most exciting was
watching them exit the theatre, possibly having seen their first performance ever.
It was powerful to know that we may have played a part in exposing some of
those children to theatre for the very first time in their life and I was happy
that I chose to take advantage of the opportunity to do so.
3.
Practice
Makes Perfect
Our program has taught me that
being a good teacher means being prepared and being willing to take risks. In
many classes, we are required to facilitate a lesson, either individually or in
groups. I’ve enjoyed these facilitations because it allows me to try different strategies
in a safe space before trying them with my high school students. Through my own
facilitation and my classmates’ facilitations, I can see what works and
consider ways I could modify an activity to better fit my personality as a
teacher.
I like that our program makes me
feel safe to share my teaching experience and encourages me to make my
classroom engaging. Sobha told us to think of our program as a salad bar: just
as a person can choose ingredients to make a salad that’s perfect for them, we
as teachers should take the tools that our classes teach us and choose to use
them in a way that will feel right for us and for our classrooms. In the end,
we’ll learn the tools that work best for us, but for now, we’ll continue to
experiment because practice makes
perfect.
4.
Ensemble,
Ensemble, Ensemble
Anyone who is involved in theatre knows that by the end of a
rehearsal process, the cast and crew become a family. It’s one of the best
parts about being involved in theatre. Amazingly, our program flawlessly builds
ensemble in each class and has left
me with a wonderful sense of family. We laugh together, share our challenges,
and support each other. This program has taught me that it is pivotal to build
a strong ensemble in my classroom because I see the benefits of a strong
ensemble every day: our classes radiate positivity, we all feel safe sharing
our ideas, and in the end, we learn more from each other and from our
professors because of it.
5.
The
Importance of Advocacy
While many of my friends and family
have supported my passion for theatre since I was in my first role as Mama #1
in Fiddler on the Roof in sixth grade,
I’ve noticed that people who do not normally participate in the arts or are not
regularly exposed to the arts, may not see the value in our program or worse,
the value in an arts education. This year has taught me the importance of not
only fostering our artistry and pedagogy, but also the importance of advocacy.
When I tell my coworkers that I’m
getting my Masters Degree in Educational Theatre, I can tell that some seem
skeptical. I know they’re thinking: What
place does drama really have in an English classroom? Are you really
learning anything that will challenge your students? Is an Arts Education really
all that important in the grand scheme of education?
I’ve learned that I need to take a
stand for Arts Education. I can advocate by kindly informing my coworkers of
the countless benefits of integrating the arts into the classroom. I can also advocate
by actually facilitating lessons that require students to engage in drama
practices. In doing so, I’ve already enlightened my co-teacher to the benefits
of arts integration. “They’re so engaged,” she’s said to me. “That grad program
you’re in really is amazing.”
I just smile at her because I
already know it is and because I can’t wait to learn more as I continue the
program.
